Freezing tray



W. DALTON FREEZING TRAY Jan. 6, 11942.

u. u. l. n. n. n. n. H. Ill, l.

Inventor; Wi l Ham ,Daltom v)o JV j -y gis Attorney.

Patented Jan. 6 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT N OFFICE William altomvschenectady, N. Y., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York j Application December 7, 1939, serial No. 307,998

' thereof shown in section; and'Fig. 5 is a sec- 2 Claims.

My invention relates to freezing trays and particularly to dividers for such freezing trays.

'I'he present case is a continuation in part of my -copending application Serial No. 122,054, filed January 23, 1937.

Many types 'of mechanical refrigerating rhachines, and particularly those adapted for domestic use,- are provided with a cooling unit arranged to receive freezing trays lled with water, ingredients for ice cream, or other 4sub--4 stances to be frozen. These trays are filled with tional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawing, in Fig. 1 I have shown a shallow rectangular metalfreezing tray the substances to be frozen and are then placed upon the surface of the cooling unit of the refrigerating machine until the contents of the tray are frozen.

A divider or grid is commonly provided in the same into a number of small compartments so that the ice or other substance in the freezing tray will be in the form of small blocks or freezing trays of'this -type in order to separate.

ice cubes therefrom. After the ice blocks or the like have been formed in the tray, the -tray is removed from the cooling unit of the refrigerating machine, warmed sufliciently to thaw the frozen bond between the tray 'and the ice blocks, and the divider and ice blocks contained therein are removed from the tray. The ice blocks may-then be removed individually from the divider for use as deslred.

It is an object of my invention 'to provide a removable divider of simple and improved construction adapted to facilitate the mechanical removal of ice cubes therefrom without the necessity of thawing the bond between the ice blocks and the divider.

'Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features of novelty which characterize my invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims. annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

For a better understanding of my invention,I

reference may beI had` to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a freezing tray containing a d1- vider embodying my invention, the divider being shown with ice blocks therein afterrelease from the tray;I Fig. 2 is a perspective vi/ew of the divider. shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an exploded fragmentary perspective view of the divider shown in Fig. 1; Fig. l4 is an enlarged view of one end 'of' thedvider shown in Fig. l with a portion I0 arranged on a supporting surface I I of a suitable cooling unit of a refrigerating machine. The freezing tray I0 is reinforced at each end by rigidly securing a, plate l2 to the end ofthe freezing'tray below a rim I3 provided about the open top thereof. 'Ihe freezing tray I0 contains a divider I4 constructed in a manner to be described below.

As will be seen in Fig. 2, the divider I3 comof the ice blocks I9 therefrom in a downwardly direction. The reinforcing member I1 extends from the longitudinal partition element over the ice block compartments to provide shoulders 20 on each side of the member to facilitate removal of the ice blocks IS from the divider. The member l1 also extends from the longitudinal partition element I5 at each end thereof to provide shoulders 2l at the ends of the divider. The shoulders 2| are employed in removing the` divider from the freezing tray.

A suitable lever such as a bar 22 having a curved lend .23 as indicated in dotted vlines in Fig. 1, is employed for removing kthe divider from the freezing tray and for removing the ice blocks from the divider. After, the water placed in the freezing tray I0 has been frozen to form the ice blocksv I9, the freezing tray is removed from the cooling .unit of the refrigerating machine by placing the curved end 23 'of the. bar 22' between the supporting surface Il and the reinforcing plate |2, as` shown in Fig. -1. 'The' bar is then swung downwardly to cause the curved end 2l thereof to break the frozen bond between the freezing tray 'and the supporting surface of the cooling unit. The freezing tray andthe .divider contained therein may then lbe removed fromv the cooling unit. The divider I4 carrying the ice blocks I9 is then removed from the freezing tray In by placing the curved `end. of the bar 22 against one of the shoulders 2| at the end of the reinforcing member il and swinging the bar downwardly to exert a force between the end of the tray and the divider.V This breaks the frozen bond between the freezing tray and the ice blocks and raises the divider and the ice blocks carried thereby as shown in Fig. 1. Each of the ice blocks i9 may be removed individuallly from the divider by placing the curved end 2l of the bar 22 between the top surface of the ice blocksand the shoulder 2l and by then swinging the bar downwardly causing the curved end thereof to exert a force between the top surface of they blocks may be removed from the divider and collected in the freezing tray Il.

The specific arrangement of the divider and its method of construction may be understood more readily upon reference to Figs. 3, 4 and 5. The longitudinal partition member i5 comprises a continuous longitudinal metal partition element 24 provided with a number of equallyl spaced slots 25 along its length. The transverse partition elements It include a plurality of metal partition elements 26 passed through the slots 25 in the longitudinal partition velement 24 and secured in place so that they are carried thereby. The longitudinal element 24 is a rigid integral struc# ture formed of a metallic sheet bent upon itself at 21 to provide two walls in face engagement, as may readily be seen in Fig. 5. Y'lf'heedges of the sheet opposite the bend 21 are iianged outwardly in opposite directions as indicated at 2l, and it is to these flanged portions that the reinforcing member l1 is rigidly secured in any suitable manner, such as by the spot welds indicated at I8 in Fig. 2. The metal partition elements 24 and 25 constitute a core and are provided with a suitable cover 29 which preferably is of tapered cross-section increasing in thickness from the bottom toward the top, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, to facilitate ready removal of the ice blocks frozen thereto. Preferably, the covering 29 is made of a water-resistant plastic compo-A sition such as rubber or other suitable waterresistant material, and is molded or otherwise suitably formed around the metallic core. TheY water-resistant coating provided on the metal core facilitates the removal of ice'bloclrs and also affords protection of the metal core from corrosion. The flanges 28 of the partition 24 enclose and protect the upper edges of the molded covering 29.

It will be evident \from theforegoing that I have provided a divider of reinforced construc- .iy tion, embodying an arrangement facilitating removal of the divider from a freezing tray and lfacilitating removal of ice blocks from the divider.'

While I have shown and described certain embodiments of my invention, other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. I

do not, therefore, desire my invention to be limited to the particular construction shown and described, and I intend in` the appended claims to cover all modifications within the spirit and scope of my invention.

What 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A removable divider for freezing trays comprising a longitudinal partition element formed of a metallic sheet bent upon itself, a plurality of transverse partition elements carried by said longitudinal partition element and adapted to cooperate therewith and with a freezing tray to form ice block compartments, and a member extending along the upper edge of said longitudinal partition element, the edges of said sheet being flanged outwardly -in opposite directions and both said edges being rigidly secured to said member, said member having a shoulder extending over said compartments to provide for mechanical removal of ice blocks from said compartments.

2. A removable divider for freezing trays comprising a longitudinal partition element formed of a metallic sheet bent upon itself, a plurality of transverse partition elements carried by said longitudinal partition element and adapted to Acooperate therewith and with a freezing tray in form ice block compartments, a molded covering of water resistant material covering the walls of said partition elements, and a member extending along the upper edge of said longitudinal partition element, the edges of said sheet being flanged outwardly in opposite directions and both of said edges being rigidly secured to said member, the flanged portions of said sheet enclosing the upper edges of the molded covering on said longitudinal partition element, said member having a shoulder extending over said compartments to provide for mechanical removal of ice blocks from said compartments.

WILLIAM DALTON. 

